That's brilliant. It's so interesting to see the same sort of topic floating around this week. Really it's all about consideration for others' time and knowledge, and the unbelievable entitlement displayed by so many. Wow.

I've seen the Olson post all over the Internet lately; it's priceless.

Kristin's piece is spot on, too. I'm a writer, and I've queried many an agent, and have come to realize their job is to represent me to publishers. It is not to provide free writing advice. Join a critique group. Hire an agent. Take a class. No one--NO ONE-- is obligated to help you with your writing, unless you've paid for the assistance.

The comments section to the Olson article left me flabbergasted when I read them. So many of the commenters seemed to feel entitled to a professional's time and attention, and don't really seem to understand what they're asking for for free.

There's a lot of hating in the comments, but Olson makes a good point. I wrote something similar once for the Absolute Write newsletter. I believe most unpublished writers (and even some who are) still work full time, have homes and families, and all the daily stuff that takes up the majority of their time. Writing is something they squeeze in by missing sleep or social events or dinner.

I personally have been bombarded by so many requests to read, edit, review, champion, vote, etc., that it was taking up all my time--and I'm not even a professional. I finally had to start saying no, and some people who were supposedly friends became offended. Haven't heard from them since.

I also have another skill that people love to have but like to get for free, especially when they know me. It's knowledge I've acquired over 30 years, and it takes quite a bit of time to do for someone. I sometimes do it once for someone I like, but when they begin to take advantage of it and ask me repeatedly to oblige them, it hurts me to have to avoid them, especially when I like them. But when I've clearly stated that I'm overwhelmed with work, and they ask anyway, it's frustrating. It's not that I don't want to help, but I've already said I can't right now, and it goes in one ear ...

I remember back in my (TV) development days, people would ask my bosses to read their stuff and they would agree and pass it on to me. So I would write a standard script or book coverage, as if it were any other project that came across my desk, and my bosses would say, "This isn't right! You have to make it NICE! He's my FRIEND!"

Yeah, well, your friend can't write! Which you'd know if you read it your damn self instead of sloughing it off on me.

I have good friends whose manuscripts I would read if they asked me to, but they'd better be prepared for an honest opinion. That's the only kind I'm capable of.

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I'm a literary agent in NYC. I specialize in crime fiction and narrative non-fiction (history and biography.) I'll be glad to receive a query letter from you; guidelines to help you decide if I'm looking for what you write are below.
There are several posts labelled "query pitfalls" and "annoy me" that may help you avoid some common mistakes when querying.